APPALACHIAN SPRING - APPROXIMATELY 80" X 90" Machine pieced by Jan Smiley. Machine quilted by Janice Hayes. I made this piece as a "no-brain-required" quilt in early 2000, right after I sold my former business, Batiks Etcetera. I wanted to get back into the studio right away, but knew that I was mentally exhausted. I absolutely Love to piece fabric together - for me, this process is very meditative and was just what I needed at that time. This is the first quilt I have ever paid someone else to quilt for me. I was under deadline to finish it for photography for my upcoming book, Focus on Batiks, due out in April 2004. I didn't even realize until this quilt was finished that it is the same color families as the very first quilt I made - way back in the early 1980s.